The presentation will be followed by a moderated conversation between Michael Kalmbach, Executive Director, Creative Vision Factory; and artist Rick Rothrock about the motivations behind the founding of the Delaware Center for the Contemporary Arts and the New Wilmington Art Association.

Celebrate the first weekend of summer and the opening of Dream Streets: Art in Wilmington 1970–1990! Guests will sample delicious tastings from popular restaurants that emerged in Wilmington in the 1970s and 1980s, as well as newer establishments. Live music will be provided by Sin City Band, which was formed in 1974, and the recently formed indie band Teen Men.

Due to construction in the area, parking may be limited. Parking attendants will be on hand for the event. Please follow detour signs.

Dream Streets Catalogue on sale now!

A comprehensive catalogue for the exhibition brings together key artists, historians, and writers—Joyce Brabner, Dr. James E. Newton, and Rick Rothrock, among others—to document Wilmington’s creative community during the 1970s and 1980s. Paperback, 100 Pages.

MUSEUM MEMBERS – Call the Museum Store to reserve your copy of the Dream Streets catalogue. Your reserved copy will be available at the Preview Party. Members receive a 10% off the $36.00 cover price. It is also available for purchase online.

Guest artist Mitch Lyons will demonstrate this unique art form that combines printmaking with ceramic techniques using colored clay and slips. Get ready to use clay in a very different way! This workshop is presented in conjunction with the exhibition Dream Streets: Art in Wilmington 1970–1990. Mitch Lyons’ work will also be on display in the show.

Dreamstreets was the seminal arts and literary journal of Wilmington from 1977 to 2001, publishing experimental poetry, fiction, and artwork by Bob Chartowich, John Hickey, Suzanne Michelle, Lew Bennett, Diane Wolf, e. jean lanyon, Steven Leech, and many others. This reading will feature several of the original Dreamstreets authors as well as Wilmington’s newest literary stars. The Museum partnered with Steven Leech and local writer and artists to release the 51st issue of this groundbreaking publication. Click here to download.

This program is partially funded by a grant from the Delaware Humanities Forum, a state program of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Film was an important area of experimentation for Wilmington artists of the 1970s and 1980s. Hosted by noted Wilmington filmmaker Geo. Stewart, this one-night festival will screen classics of Wilmington avant-garde cinema, including Flash Rosenburg’s legendary Pulse of Desire, Courage by Mark Marquisee and Jerry Millstein, and Stewart’s own Thoth, which will feature live musical accompaniment by Paul Woznicki.

Hip hop historian, MC, and DJ Gentle Jones explains, “Delaware’s hip hop roots stretch back to the beginning of the art form. As early as the 1970s, Wilmingtonians would uprock to breakbeats played on Mount Pleasant’s 91.7 FM radio station courtesy of DJ Spoon. In the 1980s, locals known as Zim-Zam and Godfather, amongst others, laid the groundwork for Delaware MCs and DJs to feature their work on vinyl records. Artists from Delaware’s Golden Age of hip hop, including Disco Beave, Twin A & Twin B, Grand G, Cage One, Intellectuals of Rhyme, and many more, are immortalized on records.”

**Food trucks will arrive at 5:00 p.m. Doors open and performances begin at 6:00 p.m. Parking is limited. Guests are encouraged to bring blankets and chair and relax in the Museum’s Copeland Sculpture Garden during the event.

**There is no Museum admission during the Dream Streets Festival and all galleries will be open and performances run from 6:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m. Rain or shine.

Step inside the romantic world of Poetry in Beauty: The Pre-Raphaelite Art of Marie Spartali Stillman. Members and their guests will enjoy the provocative works of chamber ensemble, Melomanie. Join the exhibition’s co-curators, noted London-based Pre-Raphaelite scholar Jan Marsh and Delaware Art Museum Curator Margaretta Frederick, for tours at 6:30 p.m. and 7:00 p.m.

Enjoy a cup of tea and pastries, along with an exclusive talk with Dr. Jan Marsh, noted Pre-Raphaelite scholar and co-curator of the exhibition Poetry in Beauty: The Pre-Raphaelite Art of Marie Spartali Stillman. Marsh will speak on Marie Spartali Stillman’s life and work in relation to the artistic and literary culture of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Marsh is currently working on the Late Victorian Catalogue at the National Portrait Gallery in London. She has published on a broad spectrum of Pre-Raphaelite art, including Pre-Raphaelite Sisterhood, Women Artists and the Pre-Raphaelite Movement, and Dante Gabriel Rossetti: Painter and Poet.

Visitors are invited to deeply engage with the work in Poetry in Beauty: The Pre-Raphaelite Art of Marie Spartali Stillman during a Slow Art Tour. Slow Art Tours encourage people to look at art slowly—and thereby experience it in a new way. Visitors are invited to explore three speakers’ different perspectives on Stillman’s work through viewing and discussing a single or small number of works of art.

December 20:Dante at Verona with Margaretta Frederick, Chief Curator, and Annette Woolard-Provine Curator of the Bancroft Collection

January 17:The Enchanted Garden of Messer Ansaldo with Marina Della Putta Johnston, Assistant Director of the Center for Italian Studies at University of Pennsylvania

Visitors are invited to deeply engage with the work in Poetry in Beauty: The Pre-Raphaelite Art of Marie Spartali Stillman during a Slow Art Tour. Slow Art Tours encourage people to look at art slowly—and thereby experience it in a new way. Visitors are invited to explore three speakers’ different perspectives on Stillman’s work through viewing and discussing a single or small number of works of art.

December 20:Dante at Verona with Margaretta Frederick, Chief Curator, and Annette Woolard-Provine Curator of the Bancroft Collection

January 17:The Enchanted Garden of Messer Ansaldo with Marina Della Putta Johnston, Assistant Director of the Center for Italian Studies at University of Pennsylvania

In the 1860s, Marie Spartali Stillman was a popular model for Dante Gabriel Rossetti and other Pre-Raphaelite painters. When Spartali posed for photographer Julia Margaret Cameron in 1868, she was just beginning to receive public recognition as a painter in her own right. Joanne Lukitsh, Massachusetts College of Art and Design Professor of the History of Art, will examine Cameron’s photographs of Spartali as a young female artist of the Victorian period.

This festive party celebrates the diverse contribution of more than 70 leading modern and contemporary Latin American artists featured in Our America: The Latino Presence in American Art. The evening includes curator-led tours, live music by the Karen Rodriguez Latin Jazz Ensemble, and tastings from Wilmington-area restaurants specializing in Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, and Dominican cuisine.

Learn how to shake and move those hips! Each month, drop in and learn the basics of a new Latin dance style with Take the Lead Dance Studio. Attend one session to get your feet wet or attend both and polish your moves. All experience levels and teens welcome.

Join us for a powerful storytelling performance by migrants in Delaware. Storytellers will share their experiences of migration, family, community, identity, culture, and more. Their journeys and voices will inspire you and capture your heart.

This documentary film from Shine Global chronicles Inocente, an irresistibly likeable young girl who has overcome poverty, undocumented status, and homelessness to win widespread recognition for her whimsical, colorful artworks. Enjoy complimentary popcorn and discussion with co-founder and Executive Director of Shine Global Susan MacLaury. Come early and participate in an art project inspired by the film lead by Avon Grove Charter School Interns.

Additional food and beverage available for purchase in the Thronson Café. Recommended for ages 13+ and adults.

Learn how to shake and move those hips! Each month, drop in and learn the basics of a new Latin dance style with Take the Lead Dance Studio. Attend one session to get your feet wet or attend both and polish your moves. All experience levels and teens welcome.

**Galleries will be open and performances will run from 6:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m. Rain or shine. Weather permitting, Noche de Carnaval performances will take place in the Museum’s Copeland Sculpture Garden.**

Purchase your tickets early to avoid check in lines. Click the “ticket” button at the top of this page.

About the Performers

INTIKANAis an artist, educator, and filmmaker. He has been featured on VH1 and toured across the United States, Canada, Cuba, Borikén (Puerto Rico), Costa Rica, Guatemala, Ecuador, Peru, Colombia, Tanzania, and Uganda, East Africa while sharing the stage with artists such as KRS-One, Immortal Technique, Jay Electronica, Raekwon, Afrika Bambaataa, Talib Kweli, Lupe Fiasco, The Last Poets, Dead Prez, and more. Intikana is also the recipient of The Bronx Council On The Arts’ BRIO (Bronx Recognizes Its Own) award for Excellence in Performing Arts. As a youth mentor and teaching artist, Intikana has spoken at hundreds of universities/colleges, high schools, elementary/middle schools, community centers, group homes, shelters, and prison facilities. He has worked with countless community organizations to provide innovative educational opportunities for youth through hip hop and social/cultural awareness.

DJ Perly is a female Puerto Rican Russian DJ who plays hip hop, Breaks, House music, and practices the art of turntablism with a passion. She has competed in The NYC DMC DJ Battles and is currently a 3x Freestyle Mondays DJ Battle Champion. DJ Perly is also a current member of the first Latino rocking crew, The Bronx Boys / Bronx Girls Rocking Crew, and also works with local artists who share the same love and passion for all things music.

DJ Soul Buck aka Mr. Street Sickness spins at various locations in Philadelphia such as Trocadero, The Khyber, and many more. He has taken his talents around the United States and recently Canada as a tour DJ for Digable Planets. You will be entertained when you’re listening to Mr. Street Sickness’ love for craft on the 1’s and 2′s! He will be playing Latin American-infused tunes you can dance to during Noche de Carnaval.

NENE ALI is a young spoken word poet and has a passion for the healing power of words and the ability to deliver mind-blowing performances. Nene has become a headline artist and performed at many venues throughout the northeast and midwestern United States. She captures her audience with a certain magical force all her own. The youngest recipient of Miami Heat Dwayne Wade “Keeper of the Village Award” and “Nelson Mandela Community Activist Award” Nene’s activism is attached to her art. After each performance she gets nothing less than a standing ovation and walks away with the inspiration to continue to make this world a better place! Nene recently performed as part of the Young Roots Performance Series at Hostos Center for the Arts & Culture (co-produced with Pepatian, October 2015) with poet Caridad De La Luz/La Bruja.

Orquesta Salsabor From Delaware is a Latin salsa band from Wilmington, DE and will be representing the pride of Latin people and keeping the tradition of Latin music alive in the city. What originally started as a family band has expanded to unite musicians and singers from the Delaware Valley and Philadelphia area. The freedom of expressing and playing the salsa hits of Tito Nieves, Frankie Ruiz, Luis Enrique, Victor Manuel, Marc Anthony, and many others brings fresh flavor to the local scene. Enjoy a sizzling flavor and a bit of swing to Latin music with a groove that will keep your feet moving!Band members:

Learn how to shake and move those hips! Each month, drop in and learn the basics of a new Latin dance style with Take the Lead Dance Studio. Attend one session to get your feet wet or attend both and polish your moves. All experience levels and teens welcome.